


Kind of Cool

by thelonebamf



Category: Cuanta Vida, This Is the Worst Idea You've Ever Had!
Genre: Gen, Implied Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-03
Updated: 2015-09-03
Packaged: 2018-04-18 19:24:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4717625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thelonebamf/pseuds/thelonebamf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A bit of a mish-mash of Cuanta Vida and TWIYEH. Nicole shares her personal theory about a certain University professor with her friend Ian.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kind of Cool

"But he's... kind of cool, right?" The hushed whisper was the only sound in the room, save for the occasional turning of pages.

"Cool, how exactly?" came the reply, perhaps a bit louder than generally considered polite for the library.

"I dunno...the accent, the fancy cigarettes, the mysterious scars... it's all very 'French Resistance'." The young woman's eyes flitted across the room before coming back to rest securely on the textbook before her. "Like... a spy in one of those movies!"

"You do realize Professor Bertrand wasn't even alive during this bizarrely romanticized version of the French Resistance you've just imagined, right?" The girl's study partner adjusted his glasses before shaking his head and returning to his text. "You're just determined to put off any actual studying as long as you can, aren't you?"

The red-head wrinkled her nose and stuck her tongue out childishly, suspiciously failing to disagree. "Come on, hear me out! Caine's got some friends who are grad students, and word is the professor is part of some research team at the school working on some kind of cryptography... thing." She leaned back in her chair, face full of self-satisfaction. "Code breaking. That is some solid gold spy stuff, right there."

"Spy stuff."

"Yep."

"Professor Bertrand."

"Uh huh."

"The Professor Bertrand who was late for class the first day because he couldn't find the classroom, never mind that this is his third year teaching at this University."

"..Yeah."

"The same Professor Bertrand who forgot to pick up our mid-term linguistics projects until two weeks after they were due."

"To be fair, nobody complained."

"That," the boy pointed directly at his target on the other side of the library, "Professor Bertrand."

"Yes! Of course that Prof..." the girl turned to see her instructor hurriedly dabbing at the growing blue stain on his chest where a fountain pen had apparently exploded. "Maybe it's all part of a really elaborate cover," she added, completely resolute.

The young man shook his head again, running weary fingers through his shaggy blonde hair. "Nicole, Professor Jordi Bertrand has got to be the most unassuming and boring man on the entire planet. I doubt he's ever experienced anything more exciting than a birthday party in his entire life- and not even a surprise party! Like a regular one with invitations where everyone knows when and where to go."

He snorted a bit, chuckling to himself as he crossed his arms and leaned back into his chair. "I can say, without a doubt, he would be the. Worst. Spy. Ever."

Nicole huffed, ready to argue but the cross look she received from the librarian told her that perhaps they'd pushed their luck far enough. "Whatever," she huffed, returning to her book.

\--

A few hours later the two began to pack up their things, Nicole shoving her books into her backpack a bit more roughly than was strictly necessary. She remained silent even as the two made their way down the front steps of the building.

"Hey, watch it," Ian called out as he tugged on her arm, helping her narrowly avoid a collision with a young man deftly making his way up the steps despite his obvious reliance on the cane in hand. He received a mere grumble for his trouble.

"Okay, okay, fine," he conceded. "Our very own Professor Bertrand was the coolest spy in France during World War II. So cool, in fact- that the French government put him in a time machine so he could travel to modern day on a top secret mission. Jordi Bertrand isn't even his real name! He probably doesn't even have one; everyone just called him... 'The Spy'." He waved his hands through the air, fingers outstretched as he allowed a rare, goofy smile to cross his face.

Nicole sighed. "No, you're right. I'm just being silly. Some people are meant to keep secrets and others just plain aren't. It's just fun to think about. Beats studying, anyway." She grinned and took his hand in hers before running back to the dorms.

\--

"So, you about done here for the night? Gettin' pretty late, and I don't want to come home to nothin' to eat but a bowl of cold stew."

"Almost. I got a distracted after my stationery malfunction."

"Again? Oh man, I keep telling you not to mess with those things. The stains are murder to get out. Just buy a package of ballpoints and be done with it. Nobody uses fountain pens any more anyways, 'cept maybe the president."

"I know. They're terribly inefficient. I've always thought they were kind of... cool."

**Author's Note:**

> This was just a little plot bunny that was hopping around my head this week after seeing a sketch by Kytri where he said he imagined Jordi might have been a professor after the events of Cuanta Vida. After a bit of consideration I thought that speaking multiple languages and having "a bit" of experience with computers might predispose him towards something like linguistics, and cryptography might be an interesting pet project, based on his strong desire to work out the puzzle behind the events of CV. Also non-violent ways that might help end conflict sooner seem like they'd be up his alley.


End file.
